The Birth of Japanese Console Games

On this day 32 years ago, the Japanese home console market experienced its "big bang" event, exploding from nothing into a massive industry. In their own way, each machine that debuted in July 1983 -- Nintendo's Famicom (aka NES), Sega's SG-1000, and the MSX computer -- played an important role in the evolution of the games industry.

WATCH: A look back at this pivotal day in 1983.

While the Famicom may be the best-remembered of the three, even its success was part of a bigger picture. In reading through this series, we hope you'll come to better understand why and how the industry evolved the way it did and the part each of these platforms played in helping to make video games what they are today.